Sisters
by semicolons
Summary: Delphine needs to ask Alison and Sarah about their sister...


"Sarah, get the door, for me would you?" Alison calls into the living room, opening the oven and taking out a tray of cookies. She sets it on the stovetop as her sister lugs herself off the couch and drags her feet to the door. "It's probably our new hair dyer," Alison says, mostly to herself. "It has five speeds. Donnie would never admit it, but you know his hair doesn't just get that little curl in the front-"

"Alison, c'mere." Sarah's voice sounds a bit strained. Alison throws her oven mitt down, not even bothering to close the oven. She rushes into the living room.

"Sarah?" she asks cautiously upon seeing a leggy blonde in the doorway. Her heart is throbbing and she takes a shaky breath of relief. She tries to cover the fact that her stomach still flips with nauseous fear whenever the doorbell rings, fearing the arrival of men with suits and hidden agendas. Sarah turns and looks at her to ask _did you invite her?_

Delphine looks between them with brown doe eyes.

"I'm sorry, I hope that I am not…interrupting?" she says, angling her head down and looking up at them behind thick, long eyelashes.

"No, but, um, Cos isn't here right now," Sarah says awkwardly, trying to manage something unsarcastic at the request of her aforementioned geek sister.

"Oh, I know, I wanted to talk to you and Alison, actually…" Delphine says. Awkward tension hazes the air until finally Sarah steps aside and gestures for Delphine to come inside.

"Yeah, sure, of course. Um, come in," she closes the door behind Delphine and invites her to sit on the couch. Sarah sits on an armchair and Alison hovers in the doorway, a curious hand on her cheek and lips.

"I know that you do not like me," Delphine says, glancing at Alison before turning back to Sarah. "And…with good reason," she continues shamefully, her pale hands wringing the air in her lap pleadingly, as though begging to undo what they have done. Alison looks down and her expression softens. Sarah's brow furrows.

"Delphine, that was in the past," Sarah says solemnly, then cracks into a crooked smile. "To be honest, most of the time we just like to give you shit."

"Sarah," Alison scolds, pointing to the ceiling. Gemma and Oscar can be heard playing and running through the floor upstairs. She then walks over and sits next to Delphine on the couch, putting a hand on her wrist gently. "Cosima loves you. That's more than enough for us." Delphine smiles wide, her eyes crinkling with happiness. "But you do make it easy to get your goat," Alison smiles.

"You assholes," she murmurs, wiping her eyes with a laugh. Sarah grins sideways and kicks at her boot from her chair, playfully.

"Don't get too comfortable, you-"

"_Ladies!_" Alison hisses, her eyebrows raised in reference to the children upstairs. "Do. Not. Curse." Delphine and Sarah share a smirk that's only a little guilty. Alison takes a breath and finds Delphine's eyes.

"So, what is this about?" Delphine's joking demeanor stiffens and she opens her mouth but can't find the words. Panic rushes to Alison's eyes.

"Is Cosima okay?" Sarah asks so quickly it's almost one word. Delphine answers immediately.

"No, no she's fine, Cosima is great," she assures them. Then she looks at her hands and can't help the smile that spreads across her face. "She's really, really great."

Sarah peers at Alison with the hint of a smirk on her lips.

"I just wanted to ask you something…" Delphine reaches into her pocket and pulls out a little silver ring, accented with a sparkling diamond and the inscription "_pauvre petite chiot_"inside.

Alison clasps a hand over her mouth and Sarah curses loudly, completely disregarding Alison's rules.

"I wanted to get your permission before I proposed." Alison looks like she's about to cry and leans forward, hugging Delphine tightly. The blonde just laughs into her embrace.

"_Hell yes!_" Sarah exclaims, jumping to her feet and rushing to join in the hug. Delphine is happily sandwiched between her soon-to-be sisters-in-law, one of whom is crying softly and the other who is just repeating "_I knew it! I can__'__t fucking believe it! She__'__s going to freak!_" over and over again.

Suddenly Alison pulls away, holding Delphine at arms' length, and stands.

"I'll start on the banner," she says seriously, wiping her eyes quickly and moving towards the stairs to her craft room. She turns and holds a finger up in thought. "And I'll make a playlist. We can-we can stencil little DNA curlies on it," she explains excitedly. "Oh, we have so much to do! It's gonna look great, just wait-"

"Ali, why the _fuck_ would we need a banner?" Sarah asks, and Alison looks at her with a tight jaw and shakes her head in a slant as though she can't comprehend how anyone can have a proposal without a banner. "Delphine is fucking _French_, idiot. She's got something way more romantic than puffy paint and lame-ass stickers!"

Alison disbelievingly searches the eyes of this woman who she calls a sister.

"Actually, Sarah," Delphine says, smiling up at her from the couch, "I was hoping we could make this about all of us." She turns to Alison. "A banner sounds great."

Alison looks at Sarah and raises her eyebrows smugly, trying to hide her smile.

"Okay then," she says, smoothing her hands down her jacket in poorly-concealed glee, "I'll fire up the glue gun!" She disappears down the stairs with a quietly fading expression of "What an unexpected surprise! Ooh!"

Sarah shakes her head and laughs, patting Delphine's shoulder as she stands and begins moving to the kitchen.

"You don't know what you've unleashed," she says. Sarah pauses in the doorway and turns, giving Delphine a sincere smile. "Congratulations, Sis."


End file.
